Northerner, I'm happy to hear that you're singing one of our old family songs (Ritchie family of Kentucky), "Lovin' Hannah." I took this song back to the 'Olde Country' in 1952 when I was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to spend a school-year in England, Scotland and Ireland, tracing the sources of our Kentucky family ballads and songs. It was a wonderful year, and my new husband and I met hundreds of traditional singers and heard thousands of songs! The "folk revival" hadn't begun yet, or was just about to begin...everyone wanted to hear songs from the USA, and loved the stories of our mountain family life. I did programs in London on the earliest TV (sometimes, fog filled the studio); David Attenborough did one of his first TV shows just with my doing family stories and songs of Kentucky. He told me recently that was the first time BBC had allowed him to do a TV show all on his own.

I sang "Lovin Hannah" for Jeannie Robertson in Scotland and for Elizabeth Cronin in Cork- they were two whom we visited and exchanged songs with. Before leaving, I recorded for HMV six songs on those small vinyls, and "Lovin Hannah" was one of the six. So, over the years, the song has spread all around again. Sandy and Caroline Paton, somewhere in the 60s or so, "collected" it from Jeannie Robertson. They asked where it came from; she replied, "Well I learnt that one from a wee record by Jeannie Ritchie!" They were astounded- thinking it had come from her own family.

A few years ago (maybe 1996 or so) we went to a Mary Black concert and were invited to a pub for drinks afterward with her party. I told her about, "Lovin Hannah" being our family song and asked where she had it from...she said something like, "Oh, my brother had it from an old lady down the street from him..."

Well- that's a story of how the old music goes back and forth across the oceans; you may tell it to your audiences if you like!

Joy and blessings to you,    Jean Ritchie